1. TUEUAl'ON. 283 



the head 4J- ; the diameter of the eye is nearly five times in the 

 length of the head, and 1|^ in that of the snout. Proeopercnliim 

 finely and ccjiially serrated throughout ; opercidar spines very feeble. 

 No vomerine or palatine teeth. Dorsal scarcely notched, with 

 slender spines ; the fifth and sixth are longest, their length being 2| 

 in the depth of the body ; the last two spines much longer than the 

 first two ; anal spines feeble. Caudal veiy slightly notched. Four, 

 five, or six longitudinal bands ; fins immaculate. 

 Coasts of Australia ; Sea of Timor. 



a. Half-grown : skin. N. S. \Yales. 



6. Half-grown: sldn. Poi-t Jackson. From Mr. Gould's Col- 

 lection. 



c. Adult. Sydney. From the Haslar Collection. 



d. Adult. Sydney. From the Haslar Collection. 



e. Adult: sldn. Port Essington. From Mr. Macgillivray's Col- 



lection. 

 /. Adult. Australia. From the Haslar Collection. 

 (/. Adidt. Australia. From the Haslar Collection. 

 h. Adult. AustraUa. From Mr. Gould's Collection. 

 i. Adult : stuffed. Australia. From Mr. Warwick's Collection. 



15. Therapon argenteus. 



Datnia argentea, Cuv. i^- Tal. iii. 139. pi. 54 ; Bleeker, Perc, p. 52, 

 Mesopristes macracanthiis, Bleekur, Tirpoyr. Batav, 

 Datnia cancellatoidcs, Blcek. Sumatra, i. p. 5 (young with longitu- 

 dinal bands). 



Cu\dcr quotes to this species Coius datnia, Ham. Buch. Gang. Fish, 

 p. 88. pi. 9. f. 29, creating for this species the generic name of Datnia. 

 liy comparing Buchanan's figure of the fish, and still more his 

 description, one may easily see that this is quite a different fish. 

 Hamilton's figui-e has thirty-three scales in the lateral line ; Cuvier's 

 fish has nearly sixty. Ham. Buch. describes the posterior teeth as 

 " blunt and crowded together ; the palate is smooth, and has behind 

 the teeth a short membranous veil ; above each ventral fin is a long 

 scale-like appendant." Neither such a membranous veil nor such 

 an appendix is to be foimd in Cuvier's fish ; and this species of Ham. 

 Buch. is identical with S^arus liasta, Schneid., or Chri/sop7ir>/s lon- 

 (jispinis, Cuv. & Val., Chrysophrys hasta, m. 



B. 6. D. 1^. A.|. L. lat. 56. L. transv. 25. Cecc. pylor. 11. 



The height of the body is more than one-third of the total length, 

 the length of the head nearly one-fourth ; the diameter of the eye 

 is 3-^ in the latter. The upper maxillary does not reach to the an- 

 terior margin of the eye ; snout much longer than the diameter of 

 the eye. Suprascapulary and coracoid serrated ; operculum with two 

 spines, the lower of which is the longer. The fourth and fifth dorsiil 

 spines longest, longer than half the height nf tlic body ; the second 

 anal spine still stronger and longer. Caudal slightly notched. Scales 



